Knitting machine



Sept. 13, 1932. M. c. MILLER ,8 7

KNITTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 8, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I77 enzor Sept. 13, 1932 M. c. MILLER 1,877,573

KNITTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 8, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I Or' I Patented Sept. 13, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MAX C. KILLER, OF CUIBIBBLAND, RHODE- ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO HOSIERY MACHINE CORPORATION, OF CUMBERLAND, RHODE ISLAND, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE KNITTING MACHINE Application filed November 8, 1929. Serial No. 405,656.

The invention relates to knitting machines and is herein disclosed as embodied in a fullfashioned hosiery machine adapted for knitting a complete stocking including leg, heel flaps, and toe.

More specifically, a machine of the type herein disclosed is provided with a series of spring needles fixedly mounted on a needle support which is given a lateral movement towards and away from fixed pressing surfaces to press the beards of the needles and an advancing and retracting movement to draw down new loops and cast off the old loops over the needle hooks. The needle support is secured to a frame which is plvotally mounted'on horizontal supporting levers to permit a lateral movement of the needles towards and away from the pressers, which levers are in turn actuated to impart an ad- 20 vancing and retracting 'movement to the needles in a vertical direction to knock over new loops.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved machine- 2 of this description adapted for hitting fullfashioned hosiery which is particularly adapted to knit a complete stocking including a leg, heel flaps, and foot in one operation.

I With this object in view, a feature of the invention consists in the provision of novel and improved mechanism for controlling the idle instep needles during the continued knit ting of the heel flaps to render these needles 0 inactive with the loops held on the needle hooks and to maintain an even tension on all the fabric loops during the continued knittin of the heel flaps.

Xnother feature of the invention consistsafter the heel flaps have been knitted to return the instep needles again to active position to permit continued knitting of the foot on all of the needles.

The several features of the invention consist also in the devices, combinations, and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed which, together with the advantages to be obtained thereby, should be readily understood by one skilled in the art 50 from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a view in right side elevation, partly in section, of the machine, illustrating particularly the mechanisms for maintaining an even tension on all the fabric loops during the knitting of the heel flaps and for again placing the inactive needles in operative position; Fig. 2 is a detail view in front elevation illustrating particularly the needle supports shown in ig. 1; Fig. 3 is a somewhat diagrammatic view showing a portion of the leg and the heel flaps of the full-fashioned stocking; and Fig. 4 is a similar view showing a portion of the leg, the heel flaps, and the toe application. t

' he full-fashioned knitting machine here- ,in disclosed is provided with a needle su port or bar to which certain of the needles produced on the machine of the present I are rigidly secured and extending as is usual in machines of this type,through two sec-' from suitable cam or pattern mechanism the required lateral movements to the needlestowards and away from the pressing surfaces. The construction as thus far described, is similar to that utilized in commercial cottonsysbemed machines. With the present construction, a center group of needles in each in the provlsion of means rendered operative.

section, hereafter referred to as the instep needles, which are to be inactive during the knitting of the heel flaps, are secured to separate needle supports or bars which are pivotally secured to horizontal supporting levers adapted to rotate about the same fixed axis with the supporting levers above de scribed for the needles knitting the heel flapsl' During the normal course of knitting, the connections above described are actuated to operate all the needles of both sections as a unit. During the knitting of the heel flaps,

' however, the supports for the instep needles are rendered inoperative to advance and retract these needles, and they are further iven a step-by-step movement laterally out 0 line with the remaining needles of each section to maintain constant the tension on all the needle loops during the continued knitting 3n the remaining needles to form. the heel aps.

In order to impart this lateral ste -by-step movement to the instep needles w ile continuing the lateral oscillating movement to maintain a constant relationship to the lateral movements of the knitting needles, the' subsidiarysupports above described are provided with a depending lever arm which is connected to move with the corresponding lever arm of the main needle sup-port through connections including a snail cam secured to move with the main needle support and a cam followerengaging therewith which is secured to the subsidiary support. During the knitting of the heel flaps, the snail cam is given a step-by-step movement with the knitting of each course by means of a pawl and ratchet connection. After the required number of courses have been knitted on the flanking needles to form the heel flaps, the cam follower will-ride off the end of the snail cam allowing the instep needles to be returned to active position in alignment with theneedles on the main needle support. At the same time, mechanism is rendered operative to advance and retract all the needles collectively to' knit the foot portion of the stocking.

Referring more specifically-to the drawings, a portlon of the needles,. comprising all the needles of each sect-ion, with the exception of a central grou adapted for knitting the instep portion of t e fabric, are indicated at 1, and are mounted in slots in corresponding needle bars 2, being held securely in place by clips 3. Theseparts arein turn carried on a single frame or support 4 which extends through two sect-ions of the machine as in ordinary practice. A center group of needles in each section designated at 1a in Fig. 2 are carried in separate or subsidiary slotted bars 2a interposed-between the needle bars 2, being held in place by clips 3a on a corresponding support 44 so that these nee-v dles which are adapted to knit the instep portion of the fabric as indicated at aa in ig. 3, may be moved out of alignment with the remaining needles in each section and may be permitted to hold the loops in inactive position during the knitting of the heel flaps. The main needle support 4 is pivotally carried by bearings 5 on horizontally arranged supporting levers 6, one being placed at each end of the needle support 4, which are in turn rigidly secured to a rock shaft 7. In order to impart an advancing and retracting movement to the needles, the rock shaft 7 is oscillated in timed relation to the knitting cycle through connections which include the lever 8 rigidly secured to the shaft 7 and provided at its lower end with a cam roll 9 which engages with a corresponding cam on the cam shaft 11 of the machine. The instep needle support 4a carrying the central or instepgroup of needles for each of the two sections of the machine shown, are rigidly mounted on a rock shaft 12 which is carried on two horizontal supporting levers 6a which are similar in shape to the lever 6 and are loosely mounted to turn on the rock shaft 7.

During the normal operation of the machine, the horizontal supporting levers Get for the instep needles are caused to move in unison with the supporting levers 6 for the main needle support to advance and retract all 7 and arms 13 in one direction acts positively to raise the needles to their high position. The arms of the levers 6a are held in yielding engagement with the pins 14 during the return movement of the shaft 7 to retract the needles by means of springs 16 which are stretched between the ends of the depending arms 15 and the actuating lever arms 13.

An oscillatory lateral movementis imparted to the main needle support 4 about its bearings 5 by means of a downwardly extending arm 17 rigidly secured to the needle bar 4. The arm 17 is connected to oscillate with a lever arm 21, secured to a rock shaft 22, by means ofa connecting link 19 which is pivotally secured at one end by a pin 18 to the lower end of the arm 17, and is secured to the arm 21 by the engagement of a pin 20 in a corresponding slot in the link 19. The rock shaft 22- is oscillated in timed relation to the knitting cycle by means of a lever arm 23 which is secured to the rock shaft and at its lower end'carries a cam roll 24 adapted to engage with a corresponding cam 25 on the cam shaft 11.

The instep needle supports 4a are moved laterally about their pivot 12 during the normal knitting and, when rendered inoperative during the knitting of the heel flaps, are

given a further movement to move the instep needles out of alignment with the remaining needles by means of connections with the delink 28, which is adapted to ride in the slot formed in the key disc 27. The link 28 is provided with two slotted .portions which engage respectivelywith a projecting portion of the pin 18 and a pin 28?; formed on a lateral projecting "arm of the lever 17 to permit a lengthwise sliding movement to the link 28 on the lever 17. In order to control the position of the sliding link 28 and the depending lever arm 26 of the instep needle support 4a with relation to the arm '17 of the main needle support 4, a snail cam is" mounted for rotation on the arm 17 about thepivot 18 and is adapted to engage -with the corresponding pin 29 formed on the link.28. A tension spring 31 engaging at its righthand end, as viewed in Fig. 1, with a hook formed on the lower end of the depending arm 17 and at its" other end with a corresponding hook on the end of the link 28 tends to hold the pin 29 and cam 30 in engagement to maintain a constant relationship between the instep needle support 4a and the main needle support 4.

For the normal operating position of the parts of the machine as shown in Fig. 1, with the pin 29 at the inner limit of the cam path formed by the contour of the cam 30, the instep needles are maintained in knitting position in alignment with the rest of the needles so that all the needles of the series act as a unit. 1

During the operation of the machine to form the heel flaps, when the instep needles are held inactive in raised position, as hereinafter more fully to be described, with the loops held on the needle hooks, the cam 30 is given a step-by-step rotation with the knitting of each additional course of the heel flaps to move the instep needles laterally out of alignmentwith the remaining needles to maintain a constant tension on all the needle loops. To this end, a ratchet 32 is mounted to move with the cam 30 and is actuated by means of a pawl 33 which is adjust-ably secured to a lever 34 loosely mounted on the shaft 35 of the machine. A tension spring 36 secured atone end to a hook formed on the hub of the levero34 and at its other endto a point on the machine frame, tends to swing the lever 34 in a direction to engage 33 with the ratchet 32 will cause the ratchet and the cam 30 to be given a. step-by-step' rotation in a clockwise direction, as shown in Fig. 1. The pin 29 riding on the surface of the cam 30, together with the link 28 and depending arm 26, are moved correspondingly to the left to move the instep needles laterally out of alignment with the remaining needles a step-by-step, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. A guard 37 is fixedly mounted on the stud 18 to engage with the pawl 33 and acts to limit the amount of the rotary movement imparted to the ratchet 32 during the knitting of each course, to one tooth.

During the normal operation of the machine, the lever 34 is held back against the pressure of spring 36 by the engagement with the surface 34a of the pawl lever 34' of a pin 39 formed on a horizontally arranged lever 38 which is loosely mounted to rotate on the shaft 22.

.1 he lever 38 and pin 39 are normally held in a depressed position against the pressure of a tension spring 40, to render the pawl 33 inoperative to rotatethe' "ratchet 32 and cam 30 by contact of the lever 38 with a pin 43 on a short lever 44 which is loosely mounted to turn on the shaft 22 and is in turn prevented from rotating about its pivot by engagement of its upwardly extending arm 14a with a latch 41 loosely mounted to turn on a pivot 42. i A small tension spring 380 fastened at one end to the lever 38 and at its other end to the lever 44, tends to hold the pin 43 at all times in engagement with the lever 38.

During the knitting of the heel flaps, the instep needles 1a are held in raised position, to prevent the loops from being cast 011' by contact of the needles with the fixedpressing surfaces and to prevent undue strain on these loops, by the engagement ofa heel formed on the lever 44 with a corresponding surface 15a on the downwardly extending arms 15 formed on the support levers 6a so that the levers 6a and the nee e supports 4a are held locked in a raised position against the pressure of the tension spring 16 as the rock shaft 7 carrying the lever arms 13 continues to oscillate to advance and retract the remaining active needles.

In the operation of the machine, after a suflicient length of fabric has been knitted to form the leg portion of a stocking,'the latch 41 is'tripped by theoperator to release the lever 44 which permits the lever arm 38 to be raised under the influence of its spring 40 to permit the pawl lever 34 and pawl 33 to engage with the ratchet, and at the same time, causes the heel of the lever 44 to swing into engagement with the surface 15a of the arms 15 to hold the instep needles in their raised position. Atthis time, the feeding of yarn to the instep needles is discontinued while knitting continues on the .flanking needles in themain needle bed to knit the heel flaps. As the main needle support 4. is advanced and retracted, carrying with it the cam 30 and ratchet 32. during the knitting of each course to form lithe heel flaps, the engagement of the pawl 33 with the ratchet will Ilia cause the ratchet 32 and cam to be given a step-by-step rotation. As the knitting of the heel flaps is continued, the cam roll 29 riding on the surface of the cam 30 is moved i step-by-step to the left carrying with it the sliding link 28 and the depending lever arm 26 of the instep needle support 4a so that the instep needles are given a step-by-step movement to the right, as viewed in Fig. 1, out of alignment with the remaining active needles. The amount of the movement of the instep needles out of alignment with the active needles with the knitting of each additional course of the heel flaps is adjusted exactly to equal the length of the new loops formed. Inasmuch as the assembly which includes the cam 30 and the link 28 is given a lateral oscillatory movement with the active needles, the inactive instep needles will have, in addition 3 to the movement out of alignment with the knitting needles, a lateral oscillatory movement exactly corresponding to' that of the knitting needles, so that an even tension is maintained on the needle loops held on both 5 the active and inactive needles during the continued knitting of the heel flaps. After a sufficient amount of fabric has been knitted of the heel flaps on the active needles of the end groups is completed and the needles are pressed off to rise as empty needles. From this point, knitting is resumed on all the needles to form the foot portion of the fabric.

During the knitting of the latter portion of the heel flaps, a narrowing mechanism is brought into operation as in ordinary knitting practice, to narrow the ends of the heel flaps. The operation of this mechanism is timed with relation to the other parts of the machine, to complete the narrowing at the same time that the pin 29 is permitted to ride off the end of the cam ,As the instep needles are brought back into alignment with the remaining needles, a roll mounted on a portion of the narrowing mechanism (not herein disclosed) is brought into contact with the end of the lever 38, moving from a position indicated at 45 to that indicated at 45a in Fig. 1 to depress the arm 38 and thus to move the pawl lever 34 and pawl 33 out of direction about its pivot 22 to disengage the I lever 44 from the surface 15a of the supporting arms 6a of the instep needles and further to permit the latch 41 to engage with the upwardly extending portion 44 of the lever. The various operating parts of the machine having now been returned to the positions shown in full lines in Fig. 1, the machine is stopped and a hooked bar or comb is brought in which is adapted to engage with the new loops set up on the end groups of needles to supplement the width of the fabric held on the instep needles for theknitting of the foot portion of the fabric. This comb is similar to the welt comb except that the hooks are grouped to correspond only with the needles of the end groups on which the new fabric is set up. A suspender or band is attached at one end to the comb and at its other end to the regular take-up on which the previously knitted stocking leg has been rolled to secure an even fabric tension over the whole width of the fabric. The machine is now put in operation to knit the foot portion of the fabric, yarn being supplied by separate feeds to knit the sole portions of the fabric on the end groups of needles, while the instep yarn which is still connected to that portion of the fabric held on the instep needles is utilized toknit the instep portion of the foot.

With the construction and arrangement of parts herein disclosed, illustrating the several features of the invention as embodied in a collectively operated spring needle fullfashioned machine to knit a complete fullfashioned stocking in one operation, it will be seen that the applicant has been able to utilize a type of structure which has long proved its usefulness and practicability in commercial use in cotton and similar systemed machines to knit the leg and heel flap portions of the stocking. The improvements provided in carrying out the present invention are compact, eflicient, and simple, requiring a minimum ofchanges in the original machine to produce the new result in the form of a commercially practicable machine of this general description for knitting a complete stocking. The pivotally mounted supports and levers of the commercial machine are retained and the added parts, while strong and durable so as to act with the required accuracy, do not add materially to the weight or momentum of the moving parts and permit the entire machine to be operated at the usual speed.

The inventionhaving been described, what is claimed is: 1

1. In a full-fashioned knitting machine, a series of needles, a needle support towhich a portion of the needles of the series are secured, a second needle support for the remaining needles, devices for importing lateral and vertical reciprocating movements to each of the supports adapted normally to cause the needle series to move as a unit, means for vertical movements to one of said supports,

means for imparting a stepby-step lateral movement to said last mentioned support while said devices are inoperative to impart vertical movements to said support to move the needles on said support out of alignment with the remaining needles, and means acting upon the completion of the last heel flap course and during the continued operation of the machine to return said last-mentioned support to said normal operating position.

2. In a full-fashioned knitting machine, the combination with cooperating knitting elements including pressing surfaces of a series of collectively operated spring needles, a needle support to which a portion of the needles are secured pivotally mounted to move the needles secured thereto laterally, a second support for the remaining needles pivotally mounted to move the needles se cured thereto laterally, a plurality of supporting levers on which the needle supports are pivotally and separately mounted arranged to rotate about a common axis to advance and retract the needles, mechanism for varying the operation of said levers and supports to render the needles on one support inoperative to move up and down, mechanism for varying the operation of said levers and supports further to impart a step-by-step lateral movement to the said inoperative needles on the last mentioned support while held inoperative to move up and down out of alignment with the remaining needles with f the loops held on the needle hooks to per mit a fabric tension to be maintained on all the needle loops during the continued knitting on the active needles.

ii In a full-fashioned knitting machine, the combination with cooperating knitting elements including pressing surfaces of a series of collectively operated spring needles, a needle support to which a portion of the needles is secured pivotally mounted to move the needles secured thereto laterally, a second needle support for the remaining needles pivotally mounted to move the needles secured theretolaterally, a plurality of supporting levers to which the needle supports are pivotally and separately mounted arranged to rotate about a common axis to advance and retract the needles, the parts being furtherarranged to cause the needle supports in normal knitting to rotate about the same axis. acam shaft, connections from the cam shaft for imparting the said vertical and lateral movements to the needles, and mechanism acting when rendered operative to vary the operation of said levers to render inoperative to advance and retract the needles mounted on one support in raised position and to impart a lateral "movement to the said inoperative needles comprising a plurality of needle groups, a

needle support on which a group of needles is carried pivotally mounted to impart a lateral movement to the needles of this group, a second support for another group of'needles pivotally mounted to impart a lateral movement to the needles of this group, mechanism to oscillate the needle supports about their pivots adapted normally to move the needles of both groups as a unit, and means foizpivotally moving'one needle support relatively to the other support to move one group of needles out of alignment with the remaining needles while continuing the lat eral oscillatory movement of both needle oups. v

5. In a full-fashioned knitting machine, the combination with cooperating knit-ting elements including pressing surfaces of a series of collectively operated spring needles comprising a plurality of needle groups, a main needle support on which a group of needles is carried pivotally mounted to impart a lateral movement to-the needles of this group,

a subsidiary supportfor another needle group separately pivotally mounted to permit a lateral movement to the needles of this group, mechanism to oscillate the main neetinuing the oscillatory movement of both"- needle groups.

6. In a full-fashioned knitting machine.

the combination of a series of collectively operated spring needles comprising a plurality of needle 'oups,"a main'needle support on which a. group of needles iscarried pivotally mounted to imparta lateralimovement to the needles of this group, a subsidiary support for another needle group pivotally mounted to impart a lateral movement to the needles of this group, members on which the needle supports are separately pivotally J mounted movable to advance andretract the needles, mechanism acting through said members and, supports to render the needles on the subsidiary support inoperative to. move up and down, connections for oscillating the main needle support about its pivot to impart a lateral movement to the needles supported thereon, connections from the main support for imparting lateral oscillatory movement to the subsidary support adapted normally to cause the needles of both groups to move as a unit, and means acting on said connections when rendered operative to move one group of needles laterally out of alignment with the other group while continuing the oscillatory movement of both needle on s.

7. ln a full-fashioned knitting machine, the combination of a series of collectively operated spring needles, a needle support to which a portion of the needles is secured pivotally mounted to'move the needles secured thereto laterally, a second needle support for theremaining needles pivotally mounted to move the needles secured thereto laterally, a

plurality of supporting levers on which the needle supports are pivotally mounted arranged to rotate about a common axis to advance and retract the needles, the'parts being further arranged to cause the needle supports in normal knitting to rotate about the same axis, connections for imparting the oscillatory movement of one needle support about its pivot to the other support including a cam mounted on one support and a cam follower connected to the remaining support, and means for relatively moving the cam and follower to move the supports relatively to each other about their pivots.

8. In a full-fashioned knitting machine, the combination of a series of collectively 'operated spring needles, a needle support to which a portion of the needles is secured pivotally mounted to move the needles secured thereto laterally, a second needle support for the remaining needles pivotally mounted to move the needles secured thereto laterally, a plurality of supporting levers on which the needle supports are pivotally mounted arranged to rotate about a common axis to advance and retract the needles, connections for imparting the oscillatory movement of one needle support about its pivot to the other support including a cam and a ratchet secured to rotate with the cam on one support, a cam follower connected to the remaining supports, and a pawl adapted when rendered operative to impart to the ratchet and cam a step-by-step movement to move the supports relatively to each other about theirpivots. V

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

MAX C. MILLER. 

